(Ottawa) The Trudeau government’s decision to impose binding arbitration to end the labour dispute that paralyzed the country’s two railway companies last week violates workers’ rights guaranteed by the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, argues the Teamsters union.
Moving from words to action, the union representing some 9,300 workers at Canadian National Railway Company (CN) and Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC) has formally filed appeals challenging this decision before the Federal Court of Appeal.
In all, the union has filed four separate appeals before the court, challenging Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon’s directives issued last Thursday and the decision of the Canada Industrial Relations Board (CIRB) to endorse them last Saturday. In all of these legal actions, the Teamsters union claims, among other things, that workers’ rights guaranteed by the Charter have been violated.
If these decisions are not challenged, they will set a dangerous precedent where a single politician can break a union at will. The right to collective bargaining is guaranteed by the Charter.
Paul Boucher, President of the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference
“Without this right, unions lose the leverage needed to negotiate better wages and safer working conditions. We are convinced that the law is on our side and that workers’ voices will be heard,” he also said.
Directives that would restrict the right of association
Mr. MacKinnon invoked section 107 of the Canada Labour Code to force the railways to resume operations. That section states that the Minister of Labour “may take such measures as he considers likely to promote good understanding in the labour world and to create conditions conducive to the settlement of disagreements or disputes that arise therein; for these purposes he may refer any matter to the Board or order it to take such measures as he considers necessary.”
According to legal experts, this is an unprecedented use of this article to end a labor dispute.
In one of the documents filed, the lawyers representing the union are asking the Federal Court of Appeal to rule that the Minister of Labour simply exceeded his authority by issuing directives imposing binding arbitration.
In addition, they argue that these directives infringe on the right of association guaranteed by the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and do not constitute a reasonable limit in a free and democratic society. Because of these violations of the Charter, the minister’s directives must be invalidated by the courts, argue the union’s lawyers, as must the decisions of the CIRB to approve them.
In its action, the union also asks the court to force the government to pay it a compensatory amount that it deems appropriate in the circumstances. It also invited the court to look into this matter as soon as possible.
Fearing the disastrous consequences of the shutdown of rail transport in the country, Minister MacKinnon invoked a section of the Canada Labour Code to demand a resumption of activities by the two railway companies and impose binding arbitration on the various parties.
Each side accused the other of not negotiating seriously. Wages and hours were among the main sticking points.
Pressure for rapid intervention
In a unanimous decision issued last Saturday, the CIRB implemented the Minister’s demands. The union members of the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference were therefore forced to return to work at midnight and one minute on August 26, and until the mandate of an arbitrator – who will have to rule on new collective agreements – is completed.
Freight shipments and some major commuter rail lines across Canada were paralyzed when CN and CPKC locked out their workers after months of increasingly acrimonious contract negotiations failed to produce a deal. It was the first time there had been simultaneous work stoppages on the railways.
The conflict brought a rail network of more than 35,000 km from coast to coast to coast to a standstill. The value of goods that pass through CN and CP railcars, based in Montreal and Calgary respectively, is approximately $1 billion, according to the Railway Association of Canada.
The pressure for rapid action was considerable. It came not only from across the country, but also from the United States, Canada’s largest trading partner, which was concerned about the negative impact on its economy.
The labour dispute comes as the Trudeau government, the Conservative Party, the NDP and the Bloc Québécois are steadily courting unions and unionized workers 12 months before the start of the next election campaign. A federal election is scheduled for October 2025.
Among other measures, the Trudeau government passed, at the request of the NDP, an anti-scab law. The Bloc Québécois obviously supported this measure, but the Conservative Party’s support for such a law caused a great surprise in the business world.